The Ray, a boy and two men are stranded on a Pacific Island after their plane is shot down by "asiatics". There he meets Captain Blue, a pirate who intends to attack Hawaii, then take over the world after the Americans and the "mongols" destroy each other. Blue imprisons the Ray in a circle of light, and the Ray must rely on his human strength to send Blue over a ledge to his death.

Midnight comes to the rescue of a purse snatching victim and discovers she's a scientist who can make animals talk. Intending to turn this secret over to government authorities, Alice is attacked and killed by thugs, who burned her secrets, leaving only Gabby as proof that her theories worked. Midnight gains custody of the monkey, after rounding up the people responsible for Alice's death.

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Vacuum Gun (introduction)

Indexer Notes

The Vacuum Gun was an automatic that projected a suction cup connected to a self-winding reel of fine silk cord.....strong enough to hold a man's weight, and its suction held to almost any surface.

Indexer Notes

Alex Blum is credited on this feature by Jerry Bails' Who's Who, and his gloomy faces are not to be mistaken. Compare sample in Jerry Bails' Who's Who. Jerry Iger is credited as writer for Quality, and his pen name was S.M. Regi (Iger backwards).

Writer revision from Jerry Iger to ? by Craig Delich 2013-12-26. The Who's Who indicates that S. M. Regi was a pen-name sometimes used by Jerry Iger, but also by others as a house by-line. It further indicates that Jerry Iger did not write this feature, but that Alex Blum, under this pen-name or by-line, did draw the strip.

Indexer Notes

Art Gordon is a pen name for Pinajian, from Jerry Bails' Who's Who, and the style of his signature is identical to his "Art Pinajian" signed story in Crack Comics #3. The artwork too, like the bulging noses of some villains. The villain, Mr. Mite, bears an uncanny resemblance to Captain Marvel's foe, Sivana.

Black X goes to India to help Batu track down infiltration of the British Raj by terrorists. Madame Doom follows for her own reasons.

Indexer Notes

Williams is credited on drawing this feature.

Writer revision from Eisner to French by Craig Delich.

Will Eisner created the Espionage feature, and Will Erwin was a pen name used by Will Eisner (Erwin was Eisner's middle name), but it also became a house by-line after Eisner's tenure after 1940. Lane French wrote the feature in 1941, followed by Toni Blum (1942) and Otto Binder (1942-43).

Indexer Notes

This feature was created by Manning de Villeneuve Lee, an accomplished fine artist and book illustrator who specialized in historical subjects. His by-line only appears on the first story in #16....after that, the strip was signed "Duane Byrd Monroe", a pen name for which no reference can be found.

The Who's Who lists Campbell as writer and artist in 1940-41.......Lee (called Lee Manning in the Who's Who) wrote and drew the strip in 1940, and Henry Taylor drew the strip in 1941. I'll leave it to other writer/art experts that have access to all the stories (from Smash #2-24) to determine who did what stories story and artwise.